Taleban 'to get tough on foreigners'

Aid agencies fear operations could be affected

By Afghanistan correspondent Kate Clark

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban are considering making foreign workers sign a letter committing them not to break a long list of rules and putting them under the jurisdiction of the religious police.

Foreigners would have to agree not to commit adultery, seek to convert Afghans to new religions, wear immoral clothing or play musical instruments.

Punishment for infringing these rules would range from deportation and imprisonment to death by stoning.

If the Taleban go ahead with the new rules, aid agencies will face a dilemma.

They will be torn between the need to protect staff and their commitment to help Afghans struggling with war and drought.

Hospital raid

The news comes as the religious police raided the central hospital in the city of Herat - the fifth such raid in a month.

People said the police wanted to make sure doctors and patients beards were untrimmed and their hair was cut according to the Taleban's regulations.

They said medical staff resisted and it is reported they beat the religious police back. Unconfirmed reports say two patients died as the doctors attention was turned elsewhere.

Medical staff have complained directly to the Taleban governor, Khairullah Khairkhwa, who reportedly condemned the raid.

List of pledges

It is part of a pattern, said one foreign aid worker, of the Taleban clamping down on working conditions in the humanitarian sector.

Afghan women in traditional dress

A letter leaked to the BBC and an aid agency suggested they are proposing to ask foreign workers to sign a long list of pledges or leave the country.

Among the pledges the foreigners will have to make are not to meet Afghan women, not to take photographs, drink alcohol or eat pork.

"Causing chaos" by being suspected of spying would become a crime, as would not fully respecting the "national and cultural values" of the Afghan people.

Punishment for these crimes - to be carried out by the religious police - would be deportation or imprisonment.

Foreigners would also have to agree to the Islamic Sharia punishment for adultery. That would mean death by stoning for married people and lashes for the unmarried.

'Arbitrary arrests'

Among Afghans the religious police are the most feared part of the Taleban's security services. They have the power to detain people and carry out corporal punishment without trial.

The UN has accused them of making arbitrary arrests, acting on anonymous tip-offs without checking evidence.

But withdrawing international staff would not be an easy option.

Millions of Afghans are struggling to cope with severe drought and civil war. The UN has called it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

"What would be the ethics of pulling out our staff when we know that would lead to Afghans dying?" one aid agency director asked.

Increased tension

The country is already one of the most restricted places to work, but until now the Taleban have largely respected foreigners' privacy.

If they wanted to carry out illegal activities like watching television or playing music in their own homes, that was their business. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather than the security services dealt with any problems.

But in recent weeks there has been growing tension between the Taleban and the aid community.

The UN declined to comment on the letter saying it had not yet been issued officially but they have already said they might close down programmes if security is not improved.

They have recently complained that the religious police harass their Afghan staff while foreign militants routinely make death threats against international aid workers.